First lost tooth!

So more than likely this is not exciting news to any of you, but Ryan was just soooo excited. I believe it was for two reasons-1)he gets some money and he is always trying to find a way to get more money 2)he finally feels like he is in the same league as Samantha.

When he finally pulled his tooth out, he gave it to Samantha to hold and she wrapped it in a kleenex. I went to get the camera and by the time I returned they had lost the tooth. It was nowhere to be found, but I told Ryan that the tooth fairy still knows and he will still find something under his pillow in the morning.

With a lost tooth and starting Kindergarten next week, I'm realizing that my kids are growing up so fast!

Birthday girl

Yes, that birthday girl is me! I had a great birthday this year. The good thing about having your birthday over the weekend, is it actually lasts all weekend! Friday night we went to Cheesecake Factory and it was soooooo good and sooooo pricey for the entire family (but well worth it). Saturday I went shopping by myself to spend some money I got. It was so relaxing shopping by myself and being able to spend money that I didn't feel guilty about spending. Then we went to a soccer game (the Richmond Kickers). They are not MLS, but USL and still really fun to watch. I never really watched soccer until I married Aaron and now I quite enjoy it. Going to the soccer game wasn't really for my birthday, but they were having a great deal on the tickets and it was the last game of the season. Then on sunday we had Cake and it was deeee-lish! It was the same cake I made Aaron on his birthday, but our family just can't get enough of it! All in all it was a great birthday and I can't believe I've already turned 29 three times!

This was before the soccer game. I wanted to put it in because Ryan is actually smiling and not making a crazy face and Carter is smiling because he is riding a "Choo-Choo!"

Day trip to DC

Yesterday we took a trip up to Washington DC for the day. We parked and took the metro in to the Mall area. We went to the Air and Space museum where it was soooo crowded. It was a bit too crowded for my taste and it made it not quite as enjoyable as it has in the past. We saw the classic imax movie "To Fly". I've seen it three times, but I still enjoyed it. Then we went to the National Natural History museum. I think the kids liked that one more. They spent most of the time in the hands on Discovery Room. We ate at the Old Post Office then walked to the monuments. The kids were really troopers. We did a lot of walking and didn't get back to our house until almost midnight. I'm glad the kids got to see the national monuments because who knows when we'll ever go back

The kids were excited for their first ride on the subway (metro). It wasn't Aaron's first ride, but he was still excited!

Air and Space museum

Ryan getting to know a skeleton at the natural history museum

I love this picture of the kids dressed up in the Discovery room at the museum. Unfortunately the flash was reflecting off the mirror. My brother sucked all the photographic talent out of me.

The whitehouse (Obama wouldn't come out when we knocked on the door)

The boys being very respectful at the WW2 memorial.

Samantha giving her classic elementary school smile in from the Washington monument.

Lincoln memorial

Piano practice

Samantha just started taking piano lessons. The first time I asked her to practice I went downstairs and found this....

I guess the boys were feeling like they needed to be in on the "fun" of piano practice. For Samantha's sake, I removed the boys and let her be on her own.

A Contract!!

We finally got a contract on our house!!! We are very excited, but won't truly celebrate until closing day because anything could happen between now and then. We are supposed to close on the house mid Aug. so hopefully everything goes smoothly. When it's all said and done, we won't make anything on the house, but with this yucky market, we are happy with what we get. :o)

Happy birthday Aaron!

Aaron turned 33 on friday and I just wanted to remind all of you how great he is! We went out to dinner then came home for cake and ice cream. Each of the kids gave him a gift and he got a few things from me. We had a great time together as a family. Aaron is a wonderful husband and father. The kids think the world of him and get so excited when he comes home. Ok, I'll admit, I also get really excited to have him home from work and not just so he can help out. Aaron is very giving and will do anything for anyone. We all love him and I'm glad he was somehow convinced to marry me ten years ago! :)

The Big Move!

Well, we are finally here in Virginia and moved in! I feel like my life has been in a whirlwind the past few weeks. My parents came out to Tennessee to watch the kids while Aaron and I went to NYC for our 10th anniversary. We had a wonderful time, by the way (thanks mom and dad). Then we came home and had a week to pack and get out of there. My parents helped out soooo much and we are forever greatful. It was hard because between all the packing, we had to keep the house looking good just in case someone came to look at it. It was tough. Well, we finally got packed up and the day arrived to load the truck. We hired some guys to load the truck and they did a great job at using every square inch, but we still ran out of room! So after a lot of stressful debating about what to do, we decided to rent a small trailer and my dad would drive the car we were going to drag behind the truck with us to Virginia then he would fly home the next day to Utah. It was very last minute because my dad had a flight from Tennessee to Utah the day we left for Virginia, but thankfully he was willing to make the seven hour drive with us.

Another crazy thing - about two days after moving in, both of our computers crashed and we found out how much we actually use those things! We got the desktop fixed, but the laptop is a goner! We also got an offer on the house and we were very excited to get that out of the way, but it never went through. Arrrrggggg!! Now back to square one.

All in all, we love our new house! It's in a beautiful quiet area and the kids love all the trees and room to explore. We think we will have a fun year here and you all are more than welcome to visit!

Here are a bunch of moving pictures

Notice the Budget truck and Uhaul trailer!

Out with the old...

In with the new!